How Jesse Jackson Made Politics 'Woke'

Whether you're an anti-woke conservative or an anti-racist lefty, you should thank Jesse Jackson.

University of California

What is woke?

While Huddie Ledbetter enshrined the term in the official Black American Unabridged Dictionary 80 years ago, the coal miners who used it in 1940 probably never heard Leadbelly’s song. By the 1960s, “woke” was so entrenched in Black culture that William E. Kelly wrote about the “negro idiom” in the New York Times. Erykah Badu and Childish Gambino penned songs about it. I co-hosted a YouTube show about it.

Historically, staying “woke” was a unique state of social consciousness necessary for Black people’s survival and resistance. But conservatives weaponized wokeness by politicizing it. In the pantheon of Caucasian conservative lexicon, it is now a pejorative that means… umm…

Well, no one really knows.

When Maureen Dowd explained how “Wokeness Derails the Democrats,” The New York Times, perhaps the most important journalistic institution on the planet, didn’t even feel the need to make Dowd explain the article’s premise. Ivy League-educated linguist John McWhorter built his entire career on whitesplaining what’s wrong with Black culture. Yet, the Ida B. Wells of anti-wokeness managed to pen a 220-page book on the subject without defining it. James Carville, Joe Scarborough and other heralded Caucasian cultural experts can’t either; they just know it’s bad. Although Van Jones made history as the first Black man to cry white tears, Jones just knows it is “annoying and offensive.”

When asked to provide specific examples of this societal scourge, the apostles of anti-wokeness usually point to something that gives white people the heebie jeebies. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is patriotic, but The 1619 Project was woke because it recognized the 400th anniversary of race-based slavery in America. Racism, police brutality, LGBTQ people and Palestinians have always existed. But protesting racism, police brutality, trans exclusion or the genocide in Palestine are perfect examples of this societal scourge. Apparently, “woke” is a lot like porn:

You know it when you see it.

However, there is one point at which these separate-but-equal interpretations converge. Whether you use the original recipe “woke” or believe in the undefinable vibe-based wokeness that’s the polar opposite of what white people feel when they kiss their puppies in the mouth, I think we can agree who made America so woke.

The late Rev. Jesse Jackson did this.

When Jesse Jackson tossed his hat into the 1984 presidential ring, today’s Democratic Party did not exist.

Pundits and historians often point to the GOP’s pivot to the race-baiting Southern Strategy as the reason Ronald Reagan delivered one of the biggest beatdowns in the history of presidential campaigns in 1980. The truth is, the GOP didn’t just win the white vote by 20 points; Reagan also won women voters, college-educated voters, voters under 45 and nearly captured the union vote.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party didn’t have an identity. After the death of John F. Kennedy, the Democrats tried to appeal to Southern conservatives by positioning itself as a home for white moderates. While trying to maintain its Black voter base, under President Jimmy Carter, the party supported conservative policies such as welfare reform, corporate deregulation, reducing capital gains and cutting Social Security. The party’s official platform opposed the creation of a Palestinian state and made no mention of LGBTQ issues.

To address this problem, party leaders supported former Vice President Walter Mondale. As Carter’s VP, not only had he just suffered one of the biggest electoral defeats in history, but he was also a pro-Israel, Midwestern, pragmatist Democrat who did not support the New Deal. But in his time, Mondale was considered a liberal Democrat.

Until Jesse ran.

When Jesse Jackson entered the presidential campaign chat, he introduced a platform that made Walter Mondale look like Donald Trump. By today’s standards, Jackson’s policies wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. Back then, this was the equivalent of someone reading The 1619 Project at a vaccination clinic while treating a trans person like a human being. Among the Democratic establishment (pronounced “why-itt”)—and even Black allies like John Lewis—Jackson’s plan was absurd. No truly serious party would nominate a candidate whose platform included insane ideas like:

• A New Deal-type infrastructure and jobs program

• LGBTQ rights

• Using the courts to fight racial gerrymandering

• Pivoting from the War on Drugs by focusing on treatment

• Using the Department of Justice to go after police brutality

• Ending racially biased minimum sentences

• Reversing Reagan’s tax cuts for the richest by taxing the wealthiest 10%

• Cutting the military budget

• Ending apartheid by cutting ties with South Africa

• Nuclear disarmament

• Reparations to descendants of enslaved people

• Single-payer universal health care

• Ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment

• Free college tuition

• Strengthening the Voting Rights Act

• Supporting the formation of a Palestinian state.

During the Democratic primaries, Jackson won 18% of the popular vote and three contests. He was the first Black man to address the Alabama legislature since Reconstruction. By the time the 1984 Democratic National Convention rolled around, Jesse Jackson was the most successful Black candidate in the history of presidential politics.

When he was chosen to deliver the convention’s keynote speech, Jackson earned his spot in the Woke Hall of Fame. “America is not like a blanket — one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size,” Jackson explained. “America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the Black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay, and the disabled make up the American quilt. Even in our fractured state, all of us count and fit somewhere.”

If that now-infamous the “Rainbow Coalition” speech doesn’t impress you, it’s because you’re too woke.

Jesse Jackson was the first person to use the words “lesbian” and “gay” in a speech at a major party's national convention.

Although Mondale got smoked again, the 1984 official Democratic platform addressed “bigotry, hatred and extremism aimed at women, racial, ethnic and religious minorities, and gay men and lesbians.” The party also committed itself to finding “a resolution of the Palestinian issue.”

“The Jackson campaign has already expanded the agenda of the 1984 presidential race,” wrote Frances M. Beal. “But it’s long-term impact on the Democratic Party, Black community politics, and the working class movement may be more important.”

Jackson’s 1988 campaign was even more successful. During his primary run, he prevailed in 13 states, mostly in the South. took home 30% of the popular vote and won the youth vote outright. When Jackson realized that his delegate count didn’t match his popular vote total, he cashed in his political equity and forced the party to change its rules and its primary calendar.

Jesse Jackson just didn’t pave the way for the first Black president and vice president; he made it possible. South Carolina's prominent place on the primary calendar is a direct result of Jackson pushing the Democratic Party to include more Black voters in the primary process. The Palmetto State’s disproportionately Black Democratic constituency helped Barack Obama prove himself as a presidential candidate in 2008 and forged Joe Biden’s path to the White House.

Jackson fought for LGBTQ rights when Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and many people in the Black community rode the fence or outright refused to support equal protection under the law. “Discrimination is discrimination,” the reverend explained at a gay rights march. “We’re not talking about behavior; we’re talking about status.”

Jackson supported diversity, equity, and inclusion before Trump demonized DEI. He founded Operation Push in the Chicago home of legendary civil rights activist T.R.M. Howard. Aside from serving as Jackson’s mentor, Howard was an outspoken reproductive rights advocate and abortion provider before Roe.v. Wade.

Despite Trump’s claim that Jackson invited him to the cookout, the woke icon condemned Trump in writing in an article voicing his full-throated support for The 1619 Project. And while white people are claiming that Jackson “transcended racial politics,” Beale found the perfect way to encapsulate Jackson’s political ideology:

(Frontline, March 5, 1984)

“Liberals tend to forget history and our contributions,” said Rev. Mark Thompson, who served as a mentee, aide and confidant to Jackson. “Or maybe they ignore it. Whatever the case may be, the Reverend’s 1984 campaign absolutely shifted the Democratic Party toward progressive politics. Trying to replace our influence with white consultants is partly why the party continues to struggle.”

So what is woke?

Although a precise translation has seemingly confounded the most heralded white thought leaders, after querying the best and brightest minds on social media, I have finally found an appropriate definition.

Woke: (adj): Anything that confronts a social or political inequality that has been traditionally disregarded or overlooked, ignored, or:

b. Things white people don’t like.

Examples: Black people existing, keeping hope alive…

And, of course, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.